Average diesel prices in the United States struck a record high of just under $6.27 a gallon Tuesday, the motorists' association AAA said, pressuring President Donald Trump ahead of midterm congressional elections.
The price of the fuel used largely in road hauling, agriculture and construction hit $6.2694, according to the association, as the Middle East war tightens supplies and Ukraine strikes Russian refineries.
"The diesel and gas oil markets remain extremely tight," Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, chief analyst at Global Risk Management, said in a client note Tuesday.
"A halt to Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries would help the diesel balance, but the shortage of refined products from the Middle East matters far more," he said.
"Diesel and gasoil prices and cracks only really surged after the start of the war with Iran," Rasmussen added, referring to "crack spreads" -- the price difference between crude oil and refined products.
Average US diesel prices jumped above $6 a gallon for the first time on Friday, having surged from $3.7577 a gallon at the start of the US-Iran war, according to the AAA.
It had reached a record $5.8159 a gallon in June 2022, a few months after the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
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